Ellipsoid vs. Ellipse

Ellipsoidnoun

A surface, all of whose cross sections are elliptic or circular (including the sphere), that generalises the ellipse and in Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z) is a quadric with equation x2/a2 + y2/b2 + z2/c2 = 0.

Ellipsoidnoun

(geography) Such a surface used as a model of the shape of the earth.

Ellipsoidadjective

Shaped like an ellipse; elliptical.

Ellipsoidadjective

(mathematics) Of or pertaining to an ellipse; elliptic.

Ellipsoidadjective

(botany) Having the tridimensional shape of an ellipse rotated on its long axis.

Ellipsoidnoun

A solid, all plane sections of which are ellipses or circles. See Conoid, n., 2 (a).

Ellipsoidadjective

Pertaining to, or shaped like, an ellipsoid; as, ellipsoid or ellipsoidal form.

Ellipsoidnoun

a surface whose plane sections are all ellipses or circles;

Ellipsoidadjective

in the form of an ellipse

Ellipsoid

An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface;  that is, a surface that may be defined as the zero set of a polynomial of degree two in three variables.

Ellipsenoun

(geometry) A closed curve, the locus of a point such that the sum of the distances from that point to two other fixed points (called the foci of the ellipse) is constant; equivalently, the conic section that is the intersection of a cone with a plane that does not intersect the base of the cone.

Ellipseverb

(grammar) To remove from a phrase a word which is grammatically needed, but which is clearly understood without having to be stated.

Ellipsenoun

An oval or oblong figure, bounded by a regular curve, which corresponds to an oblique projection of a circle, or an oblique section of a cone through its opposite sides. The greatest diameter of the ellipse is the major axis, and the least diameter is the minor axis. See Conic section, under Conic, and cf. Focus.

Ellipsenoun

Omission. See Ellipsis.

Ellipsenoun

The elliptical orbit of a planet.

Ellipsenoun

a closed plane curve resulting from the intersection of a circular cone and a plane cutting completely through it;

Ellipse

In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. As such, it generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in which the two focal points are the same.